DJ-Kicks

On 19 January 1998, Studio K7 kick off the New Year in style with a trip through the history of underground dance piloted by Berlin producer/DJ crew Terranova.Latest in a long line of artists contributing to the prestigious DJ Kicks series ("The most important DJ mix series ever" – Mixmag), Terranova are probably subterranean Berlin’s hippest and most in-demand crew. Recent releases have included the critically applauded ‘Tokyo Tower’ collaboration with Krautrock legend Manuel G√∂ttsching (Ashra Tempel, E2-E4) on All Good Vinyl, and their remix of the Jungle Brothers’ ‘Jungle Brother’ on Gee Street. Previous releases have included the ‘Fiasco’ and ‘Antimatter’ EPs and ‘Precipice’ 10-inch as Turntable Terranova on the Compost label, and their ‘Psychogeography’ EP for All Good Vinyl. And look out for a forthcoming Khao remix on K7.All three Terranovas are native Berliners. Fetisch spent ten years abroad, DJing, doing some recording and "just partying". A spell in New York saw him at the turntables of various now legendary clubs such as Danceteria, the Tunnel and The World. There followed work at more clubs and parties in London, plus some recording for hip hop label Gee Street.Back in Berlin in the early 1990s, Fetisch began DJing at the WMF ‚àÜ in its various locations, the city’s funky, open-minded alternative to the then not-quite-all-pervasive techno scene. It was here he met Kaos, a former aerosol artist who had ditched his canvasses to work with the wheels of steel.Fetisch was also working with Meister, a keyboard player with classical training at Berlin’s Hochschule der Kuenste who’d spent years touring Europe with assorted jazz bands. The duo hooked up to do soundtrack work. And sometime in 1995, these various projects coalesced to become what we now know as Terranova.As both DJs and producers, Terranova are less concerned with any one style than with various places and periods where "music was really happening" ‚àÜ ’70s reggae, early ’80s New York, late ’80s Bristol, early Detroit, the present-day hip hop underground. The intention of this DJ Kicks mix has been to gather together some of these influences. "It’s like a trip through time," says Fetisch. "Back to the future."The mix also includes both Terranova’s remix of the Jungle Brothers’ ‘Jungle Brother’, a previously unreleased reworking of the sublimely languid ‘Tokyo Tower’, and one track, ‘Contact’, like some mutant ’60s TV theme, composed especially for this DJ Kicks edition. The final mix has been enhanced with keyboard overlays, effects and street recordings. The result is more of a sophisticated studio production than a simple DJ mix.